TAKE ACTION
a
M
TAKE ACTION
The Most Annoying Nutrition Tips ( 7 Things That Actually Work)

The Most Annoying Nutrition Tips ( 7 Things That Actually Work)

by | Jan 12, 2025 | Blog, Diet

“It’s not my workouts. It’s my diet.”

I struggled to make the nutritional changes I needed to see the fat loss and muscle definition I wanted for the longest time.

I tried to out exercise my diet.

But you can’t. At least not for long.

And the more we try to, the more we sabotage our long-term success. Not to mention the more we make it harder and harder to lose the weight and stay lean as we get older.

So as much as we may try, there is no way around making changes to our diet if we want to see results.

That’s why I’m going to break down adjusting your diet into 7 steps to follow and follow IN ORDER to start.

These nutrition tips are going to be annoyingly simple and unsexy and things you probably don’t want to do.

You may even think you’re above them.

But guess what? You’re not.

No one is above the basics and too often we think we’re advanced and lose focus on them which is why we don’t see results.

So suck it up buttercup. Take things back to basics and embrace the changes.

What ultimately feels sustainable and like a lifestyle balance doesn’t always start out that way.

And these changes will help you lower that mental barrier against change to create habits you can actually be disciplined with and see results snowball!

But remember, nothing changes if nothing changes.

So step #1…Get to tracking.

I know some of you are about to click back because you don’t want to track.

You hate tracking.

It’s tedious. Boring and time consuming.

It’s restrictive.

But guess what?

Your desire to avoid this ESSENTIAL habit is why you’re stuck feeling like you’re working hard without seeing results ever build.

And the thing is…tracking isn’t restrictive…although I do agree…it’s not the most fun or exciting of habits.

What’s restrictive is how we’ve cut stuff out in the past when tracking. JUDGED our own diet.

That’s why when you first start tracking you’re not going to cut anything out.

You’re not going to restrict or judge.

You’re simply going to TRACK.

Because then you’ll know what your diet looks like.

You’ll see areas that could use improvement but also truly understand how you’re fueling and how that makes you feel.

Tracking is truly EYE OPENING.

Then based on what you’re during currently, you’ll make changes that match what YOU need.

Not changes based on some “perfect” figure competitors’ diets that are totally unrealistic for your lifestyle.

But changes that meet you where you’re at to move forward.

Tracking will help you make SMALL changes that build over sabotaging yourself by doing so much you ultimately fall off because the EFFORT doesn’t equal the OUTCOME.

Too often we try to out diet time and ultimately just make ourselves give up because results don’t happen faster or equal to the effort we feel we are putting in!

Then step 2….add 10 grams of protein to 3 meals.

When we “go on a diet,” we jump right to cutting things out, and often the things we cut out, are the things we truly love the most.

But we’re not going on a diet with these steps.

We’re ADJUSTING our diet.

Which is why we want to focus on nutrition by addition.

This not only helps us feel more successful with the changes to want to do more, but it lowers our mental resistance against making harder changes as we go.

So first, add in about 10 grams of protein to 3 meals.

And if you’re like “10 grams?! What does that look like?”

It can be two eggs at breakfast with your toast. Or ½ cup of greek yogurt added to your oatmeal.

At lunch it could be adding another ounce of chicken breast on your salad. Or 2 tbsp of nutritional yeast used as seasoning on your current protein source.

It could be ⅓ cup of cottage cheese with ranch seasoning blended into a dip instead of ranch dressing for carrots as a snack.

It could be a serving or 85 grams of edamame added to your stir fry at dinner…Or a cup of bone broth swapped in to your soup or stew.

The key is SMALL changes to meals you already enjoy.

These small changes add up to a 30 gram boost over the day and helps us build our protein to between 30-35% of our calories for the day, which will help us lose fat as we retain lean muscle.

This protein increase can also help us feel fuller and more fueled to see better results from our training.

This ADDITION too of protein can even help us start to create a calorie deficit without technically adjusting calories.

Because protein has a higher thermic effect, requiring our body to expend more calories to digest and use it.

So while we’re adding, we’re also adjusting our calories in a way to start losing fat!

Step 3…Fiber swap.

The health of our gut has a huge impact on our fat loss results.

And fiber is key to our gut health.

It feeds and maintains our gut microbiome, which has beneficial effects on metabolic health, such as improved glucose and insulin levels.

Not to mention it helps keep us feeling fuller as we create that small calorie deficit.

So your next step, is to swap a food at 2 meals for something higher in fiber than what you’re eating currently to help you boost your fiber intake by 5-10 grams to start per day.

This helps us adjust our food quality with a focus on adding over restricting or cutting out.

It empowers us to make healthier choices but in a way we don’t have to first jump to eliminating things we love and want to include.

And these changes can be super small and as simple as swapping lentil pasta for white pasta.

Quinoa for white rice.

It could be using raspberries or blackberries over bananas in your oatmeal.

It could be a whole grain bread over a white bread for your sandwich.

Or adding in chia seeds to your greek yogurt dessert or breakfast smoothie.

It could be cutting your portion of potatoes at dinner to add a small side of broccoli.

But it doesn’t have to mean us not still including the foods we love or recipes. It can just mean small adjustments in how we make those dishes or the exact portions we consume!

Step 4…Drink more water.

Proper hydration is essential as we increase protein and focus on fiber.

If we’re dehydrated we won’t see fat loss happen as fast as we’d like not to mention we can find ourselves actually feeling hungry when we aren’t.

Drinking at least 50% of your bodyweight (weighing in pounds) in ounces of water can help increase your metabolism and make sure you’re not suffering from cravings.

If you’re nowhere near this intake now after tracking it for a few days, focus on one habit shift you can make to get in an extra few ounces or two.

As a person that struggles to drink water at times, I’ve helped myself improve the habit by putting out a water bottle the night before by the coffee maker to remind me to drink as I get ready for the day!

I also find that infusing water or having Ultima always on hand and in my backpack, I have more of a desire to drink the water because it tastes good.

Ultima and things like Cucumbers or Oranges infused into your water can help you boost your electrolyte intake and improve your hydration as well!

Focus on increasing your water intake by connecting drinking water to even a routine you’re already doing and by even getting a fun water bottle you have out so you’re constantly having that visual reminder!

Step 5…Swap out ONE food that’s not serving your goals.

As you’re making these changes and seeing the daily implementation of these habits building, you want to push out of that comfort zone just a bit more to get results building a bit faster.

Swap out something that you know isn’t serving your goals to help you cut calories by 50-100 from your daily intake, increase your protein, and improve your food quality and micronutrient diversity.

This doesn’t mean jump to the food you love the most even if it isn’t the healthiest.

But it does mean pick something you won’t miss as much to swap it out or adjust the portion.

And start with ONE meal or food.

You want to focus on something that will start to create that small calorie deficit off of what you were doing when you just started tracking your natural diet.

So take a look though at your daily food intake.

What packs a bigger calorie punch? What’s a large portion you could cut back on?

And no you can’t say your protein source.

Although this COULD be a chance to swap in lower fat cuts of meat, moving from chicken thigh to chicken breast or 85% lean ground beef to 96%….

Also note healthy but calorie dense foods that you’re consuming over the day.

Things like nuts, while healthy, can pack a real calorie punch and may not be the best option for us as we are looking to lose fat. They are easy to overeat.

So swapping out nuts as a snack for a greek yogurt dip and veggies can help us lower our calories, increase protein and even feel fuller because we’re including a great food volume over the day.

Adjusting even things like your pasta dish from a full cup to ¾ cup of pasta while adding in veggies or another ounce of protein.

These little swaps can keep pushing us to create the balance we need, increasing protein and creating that small calorie deficit needed for fat loss.

But with this, more is NOT better!

Don’t get cut crazy and start eliminating more than 100 calories a day to start.

Eating too little can backfire and sabotage not only our adherence to the plan, which is so often why we feel like dietary changes aren’t sustainable or possible, but also result in us losing muscle, creating metabolic adaptations and not getting more muscle definition!

Start swapping things you know may not be ideal or adjusting portions to further prioritize protein and reduce your calorie intake by just 50-100 per day.

Step 6…Keep tweaking!

As you see progress build, keep adjusting and making improvements, going back through steps 2-5 to improve.

Where can you increase protein?

Where could you try adjusting carbs of fat to see how each macro impacts you?

Could you improve your hydration?

Even start to assess other aspects of your diet including your meal timing.

Focus on changes that even feel doable on the worst of worst days as you build.

And KEEP TRACKING.

Also own when your LIFESTYLE has changed.

What you do at one time of year when you’re motivated may not be the habits you need at another.

Allowing an ebb and flow to how you do the habits, focusing on even one of these steps more or less at times can be key.

At times we may be more motivated to really focus on those whole natural foods. At another, we may try to find ways to work in more foods we love because that is the only way we will stay consistent.

But we want to keep tracking and adjusting to meet ourselves where we are at.

Which brings me to Step 7…Don’t Excuse 1%.

Too often as we make changes and see results snowball, we get complacent. We start to self sabotage by excusing inconsistencies and deviations.

Or our priorities shift and we don’t use Step 6 to fully OWN them and adjust.

But there is nothing that can sabotage us more than saying, “Well I’m being good enough.”

Because often when we say that…we aren’t.

We’re ignoring all the little deviations that add up and slowly take us off course.

Instead keep focusing on tracking EVERYTHING to find a balance…

Track the good, the bad and the ugly.

This helps us avoid letting negative judgements creep in and truly helps us keep building.

It’s an acknowledgement of what is going on so we can see why our results are what they are.

Because so often we feel like we’re still working super hard with habits while things actually slide and this leads to us being frustrated when results don’t add up.

So don’t excuse deviations and keep tracking as you progress toward your goals.

Use these 7 steps to help yourself see the fat loss you deserve. And even spend a week really focused on each one before adding.

While this may feel painfully slow, it is key to creating that discipline and success mindset that makes us keep wanting to do more and feeling disciplined with the changes!

Because fat loss results and muscle definition happen from the daily habits we CONSISTENTLY do!

Success is never owned. It’s rented. And rent is due every single day!

Dial in your diet to match your workouts and build your leanest, strongest body ever with my Metabolic Shred…

–> LEARN MORE

10 Unique Healthy Habits I Wish I Knew Sooner

10 Unique Healthy Habits I Wish I Knew Sooner

by | Oct 20, 2024 | Blog, Diet, Exercises, Functional Fitness, Mindset

I’m not even going to waste your time with an intro…Here are 10 Unique Healthy Habits I Wish I’d Started Earlier….

Habit #1: Stop labeling foods as good and bad.

I pressured myself to eat clean…in a whole host of different variations for the longest time and sabotaged my own success.

And every time I went on another diet that cut out some “bad” food, I would ultimately be consistent for 30 days or 6 weeks, see some results, then feel so deprived and restricted I would ultimately fall off. 

And then I’d feel guilty. 

So of course, since I’d already ruined the day or week, I’d eat everything bad for me possible to only have to “start over Monday.”

Then Monday would come and I’d restrict again.

But this labeling of foods as good or bad stopped me from finding balance. And it ultimately led to me eating more foods not as nutrient dense over the long term. 

Not to mention it stopped me from seeing results.

Now instead, I focus on an 80/20 balance. I work in foods I love 20% of the time and fully enjoy them. Then focus on whole natural foods 80% of the time. 

I never now feel guilty and realize if I don’t include something it is my CHOICE, not something I have to do to hit someone else’s arbitrary standards of clean eating!

Habit #2: Reflection breaks.

I’m a do’er. I get something I want accomplished and I just want to get to taking action.

But this approach leads to a lot of wasted time and energy and often a lot of frustration as we work harder without moving forward. 

It’s why I think it is so key we realize the importance of reflection breaks.

Times we step back and actually look at our habits, how we’re truly implementing them and then assess our progress.

Because often we are doing a lot of things we don’t need to be doing and not paying attention enough to the habits we do need to be focusing on.

We’re letting little deviations in our nutrition creep in. Ignoring missed workouts. While putting a lot and time and energy into other things that aren’t as essential.

But honest reflection can help us notice a gap between what we say we want and what we’re doing.

And even help us assess what we’re actually optimizing our habits and lifestyle for.

Because we won’t stumble our way into results. We have to be clear on where and what we’re spending our time on and why!

Habit #3: Set end dates.

Any time I create a plan, I set an end date. This also helps me take time to reflect, making that second habit easier.

And not only do end dates give us that time to reassess and adjust but they help us embrace and trust the process when trying new things.

We know there is a point we can make a change if things aren’t working.

End dates also give us motivation to start now. It’s easy to say, “I’ll start tomorrow.” when there is no deadline.

It’s also easy to feel overwhelmed by the idea of FOREVER.

We honestly get BORED with that idea.

We want to test out new workouts. We want to try new foods. We like searching for some improvement.

Instead of shying away from that, set those end dates to give yourself the opportunity to make tweaks and still have fun testing out new things while keeping yourself focused.

Habit #4: Cycling macros every few WEEKS.

I tried carb cycling, variations of daily cycling of macros and calories. 

I tried sticking to one thing for months upon months.

The first led to my energy being all over the place and frustration trying to hit different numbers while prepping different foods daily. 

It was too much work. Made me feel sluggish.

And it made it so hard to know what was and wasn’t working.

When I switched to sticking with one thing for extended periods, I found I got bored. Results weren’t as fast.

And if my workouts or activity level shifted, I found myself either starving at times or even gaining fat because my fueling didn’t match.

That’s why I began cycling every 2-3 weeks most consistently with small changes over cycles.

It allowed me to simplify meal prep. Keep my energy consistent. Adjust with changes in my workouts. Use different macro ratios to work toward different goals.

And I could even use the ratios to build better off of each other to take advantage of the different impact going lower carb after higher carb or higher carb after lower carb could have on body recomp goals!

It was my balance of diversity with consistency. 

And without being too complicated or requiring the extreme precision cycling daily, like carb cycling, required!

Finding my balance of diversity with consistency was key for me not only with my diet but also with my workouts.

Habit #5: Repeating a weekly workout progression.

It’s easy to want to jump around. Or even want to repeat things because they are comfortable.

But you need a balance of both and repeating workouts is key to creating progression. 

It’s hard to track progress when there is no clear build and every workout, every day of every week is a bit different.

If you do pull ups one week on Tuesday when your back hasn’t been worked that week you may get out 10 pull ups in a row versus if you did them on Friday of the next week after doing rows on Wednesday, you may find you struggle to get 6. 

You didn’t get weaker. The muscles were just fatigued from previous work.

You’d be able to track progress better if you repeated the same schedule and workouts weekly for a few weeks in a row.

And to keep this from becoming boring, implement diversity in your workouts over the week. Don’t just do pull ups multiple times or the same workouts multiple days in a week.

Use different types of moves and even different training techniques and workout designs and tools to create unique and fun sessions.

This combination of even different forms of progression will help you see faster results while helping you not get bored!

Habit #6: Do that prehab!

I wasn’t always the prehab or foam rolling, stretching and activation obsessed person I am today.

But injuries made me face the facts and I’m so glad I did.

Not only am I moving better with fewer aches and pains, but honestly my fat loss, muscle grains and lifting performance all improved by just committing to this system every single warm up.

And it doesn’t have to be a lot. Some days it’s barely just 5 minutes, but the consistency with that flexibility, mobility, and stability work pays off.

We get good at what we consistently do. And the more we stay consistent with this prehab work the less we have to do extra to address movement compensations and imbalance that build up.

That feeling that we used to get away with something just means we shouldn’t be trying to get away with it.

And the longer we try to avoid the prehab work, the more we’re just creating bigger issues that will sabotage us later.

So focus on that prehab work and be intentional with your training. Don’t just rush through. Don’t just think of your workouts as a chance to burn more calories.

Focus on moving well in your sessions and you’ll not only feel and move better but you will see the payoff in those aesthetic goals too!

Habit #7: Prioritize protein.

This habit was something I resisted just like prehab. But when I started prioritizing protein, I finally got to the leanness level I wanted while also FEELING my best.

I saw my workouts and strength improve as well as my recovery.

And this prioritization of protein, I know will serve me well in years to come so I can look, move and feel my best!

I think this focus on protein is essential as we don’t just want to train to look and feel good for a day…we want to feel our best till our final day on this planet!

To help myself focus more on increasing my protein, I began to log it first and build meals around the portions I needed. 

I even researched different protein types to find opportunity in the options out there.

I also at first didn’t worry about my ratio of carbs to fats. I just focused on calories and protein.

This allowed me to start to learn how to increase my protein while also making meals I enjoyed.

And I stopped even just focusing on ONE protein source at a meal.

By seeing how I could use two different types of protein in a meal to hit my needs, I found I enjoyed my meals more and didn’t get that protein fatigue!

Habit #8: Embrace my laziness.

This sounds weird to say as a habit but I think it’s a key thing to point out.

Because too often with habit changes, we try to focus on hitting an “ideal.”

We don’t think about how the habits can be adjusted to realistically fit our lifestyle. And that’s often what makes habit change so hard.

We’re trying to force a habit mold.

Instead we need to think, “How can this adjustment work for me and what is one small step toward bigger changes that I can make even on my worst days?”

This focus on embracing what I call my “laziness” with things, allowed me to build healthier habits that have evolved more and more over time.

Like I buy tons of frozen veggies and fruits. I know they won’t go bad and they are easy to prep.

I’ll buy pre-cooked chicken breast. I’ll get frozen meal prep from places.

I’ll plan in restaurant meals out so I don’t have to cook.

I get canned goods.

I have 5 minute workout options or even home workout options when I just know I won’t be motivated or have the time to get to the gym.

The more we can embrace our own “laziness” or desire to not give MORE or prioritize something more, even if just not right now, the more we can actually make healthy habit swaps that add up!

Habit #9: Brain dump before bed.

Failing to plan is planning to fail. 

The night before I make sure I have everything laid out for the next day.

This pre-planning, or last minute opportunity to adjust my plans, helps me make sure I have my to-do list set for the next day in a way I can accomplish the main things I need to do.

It helps me so that I’m organized in a way I’ll put first in my day the things that will get skipped if not done immediately.

It also helps me clear my mind before bed of anything that may keep me awake at night.

I don’t know about you, but if I’m not conscious to do a little brain dump of thoughts or tasks before going to bed, they’ll be spinning around my mind all night, making it hard to not only fall asleep but stay asleep.

So I use this brain dump into a list to close loops from the day to relax before bed while setting the next day up for success!

Habit #10: Take breaks.

I struggle HARD to not be doing something…like all the time. 

So I honestly steered into that even with how I take breaks.

Because breaks don’t mean you aren’t doing something. They are really just a break from what we WERE doing.

So on weeks my body needs to back off the workout intensity, aka needs a break from the heavy lifting or killer cardio, I plan in things to do that are recovery.

I plan in a ton of mobility work and restorative movement. That way I don’t feel like a couch potato. 

I use that time if I do shorten my workouts as an opportunity to even make other changes or habits shifts I haven’t had as much time to focus on.

I give myself a new focus while taking the break.

Because our body and mind can’t just go at 100% in the same way forever. And our priorities at times do need to shift.

And if we don’t own this, we never end up actually giving our all to anything.

We can also see our motivation completely fade and burnout hit.

It’s why sometimes even proactively scaling things back when you know priorities have shifted can be key.

So give yourself the break at times and shift your focus. It can help you feel like you’re still getting to take action but in a way that helps you stay motivated while giving your all to what you truly can!

Build your leanest, strongest body no matter your age while creating SUSTAINABLE habit changes and a true lifestyle balance with my Private 1:1 Online Coaching.

–> APPLY AND SCHEDULE A CALL

How To Get Lean & STAY Lean For Life (6 Tips)

How To Get Lean & STAY Lean For Life (6 Tips)

by | May 28, 2023 | Blog, Diet

Let’s be real here….

You want to be lean and strong to perform your best for the rest of your life.

Falling into old habits is the quickest way to lose your progress.

You need to create a lifestyle built off of habits you can maintain.

That’s why these 6 nutrition rules are key to staying lean and strong for life!

Rule #1: Don’t Ignore Your Gut Health.

Very rarely is gut health the first thing that comes to mind when you think about staying lean.

But if our gut microbiome is healthy, the rest of our body will function optimally. 

It helps reduce inflammation, keeps our metabolic rate higher to burn more fat, and helps reduce cravings.

An increase in “bad” bacteria has been shown to trigger an overproduction of insulin, leading to insulin resistance, which causes your body to stop burning fat and start storing it. 

The more insulin sensitive you are, the more likely it is that you’ll have a leaner body due to insulin’s anabolic properties — replenishing fuel stores while reducing the rate of protein degradation or breakdown.

Taking care of our gut health can actually help us feel fuller and balance our appetite. 

When the bacteria in our gut ferments fiber, it releases leptin which can help suppress appetite and help us feel more satisfied.

Aim to consume 25-30 grams of fiber per day and consume foods rich in probiotics and prebiotics, like yogurt, fermented foods, garlic, potatoes, bananas, and legumes. 

Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables is also important, as research shows that consuming at least 30 different types of plants per week can lead to a stronger and more diverse gut microbiome.

So have some fun with that meal prep over the week for great tasting dishes and a lean, strong body! 

Rule #2: Don’t Diet Forever.

If you’re still thinking of your dietary changes as something you’re doing until x date, you’re never going to actually create lifestyle changes you can maintain long-term.

You can’t maintain habits you hate for long.

If you feel restricted and hungry and deprived, at some point your willpower is going to run out. 

Find new ways to do the minimum if you want to create baseline habits that keep you consistent.

This is how you maintain the results you’ve built.

An easy way to do this is to pick a calorie range and a protein minimum. 

By having these clear guidelines, we can make sure we are allowing 012 – guidelines ourselves to enjoy the foods we love with guidelines to keep us in check! 

Life is unpredictable and there may be times when our priorities change.

It’s okay to reassess and adjust your approach.

Whether you’re juggling a busy work schedule or taking care of a new family, you can still make changes to your nutrition by constantly assessing your priorities and setting boundaries with tracking. 

Rule #3: Fuel Your Training.

Too often we sabotage our long-term success by NOT focusing on our performance while adjusting our nutrition.

We just accept low energy levels and sucky workouts. 

Because let’s face it…if we feel crappy, it impacts our nutrition choices.

Feeling strong and powerful and fast…well… it ROCKS.

If you want to maintain your aesthetic results, you need to make sure you’re fueling to be able to train the way you’d like. 

Properly fueling our training makes it so much easier to maintain our results long term! 

Fueling to build lean muscle is really the secret to being able to look leaner for the rest of our lives! 

You can’t stay in a deficit forever.

Focus on fueling your workouts to make sure you have full energy stores to perform at your best!

And if you’re doing any endurance training do NOT fear carbs! 

They are key even if you went lower carb to initially lose the weight! 

Rule #4: Set Meal Prep Staples.

You need flexibility to enjoy any of the foods you love or go out to eat if you’re in this for the long haul.

The more restricted we feel, the harder it is to stay consistent.

It’s key we have flexibility but If you want to maintain your physique for life, you need to have those meal prep staples always on hand.

Find delicious recipes you love to prep in bulk and freeze. 

Find easy canned goods or frozen foods you can always have to prep in a pinch. 

Create some go-to meals you can eat consistently that are always there for you in a pinch.

Create a few different variations of those meals like a higher and lower carb option so you can make adjustments based on other things you had that day. 

Went out to an unplanned lunch and had more carbs?

Use version B of your taco bowl and make it a taco salad instead!

Have some simple staples you always know you have on hand to make life EASY while keeping you consistent.

Rule #5: Embrace Change

Your priorities in life will shift. Your body is going to change with age

Even your lifestyle and activity level may shift season to season. 

Your routine during the holidays will be different than over the summer. 

Nothing will work forever.

So staying lean and strong for life will mean being open to constantly learning and adjusting.

You wouldn’t do the same workouts forever…so you can’t approach your diet as you’ll do the exact same thing forever either.

Don’t be afraid to adjust your macros or portions over time.

Try new foods and recipes. 

Experiment with including different supplements to help you work toward other goals or even make your lifestyle more convenient during busy days. 

Embrace that you can constantly make changes to find a balance.

Maintaining doesn’t mean you won’t fluctuate or that you won’t set goals to focus on.

It just means you have those boundaries to keep yourself in check and doing the minimum to maintain the hard work you put in to get these results in the first place! 

Rule #6: Put Protein First.

The simpler we keep things, the more sustainable the habits are.

Too many things to focus on splits our attention and with more balls up in the air, it is much easier to drop one when life does it’s best to get in the way.

Maintaining your results is about finding out the minimum you can do.

I like to think of it as a challenge to see how lazy I can get away with being.

Give yourself one focus.

Getting about 30% of your daily calories from protein will keep you dialed in enough to maintain your results.

This puts your focus on whole, natural foods and keeps your metabolism humming.

Paired with a calorie range this makes sure that you’re never getting too far off track even as you work in other foods or travel or enjoy cocktails out with friends. 

It also allows for more flexibility so you don’t constantly feel restricted or like you have too many habits to focus on repeating!

Focus on these 6 simple nutrition rules to stay lean and strong for life and don’t sabotage yourself in constantly overcomplicating things!

For more tips, join my FREE daily newsletter!

Can’t Lose Fat? Try These 7 Tips

Can’t Lose Fat? Try These 7 Tips

by | Jan 29, 2023 | Blog, Diet, Exercises, Functional Fitness

Struggling to see the weight loss results you want and feel like your only option is to overhaul your entire lifestyle?

Well you don’t have to!

In this video I’m going to share the 7 common lifestyle habits we think we need to implement to lose weight that actually hold us back and then explain the secret to increasing your metabolic rate to becoming a fat burning machine!

Hey guys it’s Cori from Redefining Strength where we help you create the healthiest version of your PERSONAL lifestyle to see results. Because one size doesn’t fit all!

Losing weight means making a change to our daily habits. 

But sometimes we make changes that actually hold us back.

That’s why, in this video, I want to highlight the 7 habit changes to AVOID and what to do instead to see results while improving your metabolic health! 

Mistake #1: Cutting out the foods you love. 

What’s the first thing we think we need to do to lose weight?

RESTRICT.

For many of us, dieting means cutting things out. 

Often the first foods we eliminate are the ones we love most, but also know aren’t the healthiest for us. 

Our dessert. Or salty snack.

But by cutting these things out, we create a feeling of restriction that is also what derails us.

At some point we feel like our willpower runs out.

Because we aren’t meeting ourselves where we are at to make sustainable changes based on our personal lifestyle balance. 

So instead of cutting out your favorite food first, make an ingredient swap or portion adjustment first so you can work AROUND the foods you love. 

Even focus on what you can add in over cutting out.

Shrink your portion of rice at dinner from 1 cup to ¾. 

Do half a sandwich with a side salad to adjust your portion, lower your carbs and add in vegetables.

Sprinkle nutritional yeast on your popcorn to bump your protein and add a cheesy flavor! 

Help yourself create lasting changes by avoiding the restriction mindset!

Mistake #2 : Making yourself eat specific things. 

Do NOT force yourself to consume foods you dislike just because someone mentioned a potential health or fat burning benefit. 

That is a surefire recipe for disaster because you’ll run out of self control eventually and default back to old habits sabotaging any results you’ve built.

We can’t do one thing to achieve results then go back to old habits and expect to maintain those results.

The changes have to stick.

So, if for instance, you don’t like coffee, don’t force yourself to drink it just because someone else says it can help you lose fat faster! 

Any fat burning benefits of coffee are small and you adjust to the caffeine intake over time which means that the benefits become less with time unless you keep consuming more. 

Caffeine can have a negative impact on mood and sleep.

This is a 1% change that will make no difference if your overall nutrition and workout routine aren’t dialed in BUT may have a huge impact on whether or not you stick with your plan long term! 

Just like forcing yourself to eat a ton of vegetables or bland boring dishes because you feel guilty and want to meet someone else’s arbitrary standard of “clean eating,” will ultimately prevent you from making lasting changes.

We get good at what we consistently do and we do more of the habits we ENJOY.

So if you don’t like broccoli, don’t force it. Try other vegetables to find something you enjoy! 

Mistake #3: Design hour long workouts or 2 a day sessions.

How many times have you thought… I just don’t have time to workout?

You aren’t alone.

It’s because we see all these people losing weight training for hours a day or doing 2 a day sessions. 

But this focus on doing more often leads to a lot of wasted time and effort but holds us back from building a consistent routine and habit. 

Quality not quantity.

The best results come from designing for the time you have because then you can be consistent with them.

If you have 3 days a week and 30 minutes, design full body workouts to get in everything you need with those sessions.

That will be far better than ending up missing body part split workouts because you just don’t have the time to stay consistent! 

And as you get consistent with that routine, you may find you can work in more workouts later OR that you can maintain these habits even when life does its best to sabotage you and throw you out of your groove!

Mistake #4: Try to burn as many calories or get as many MEPs as possible in your training sessions.

When many of us start training harder to lose weight, we get a calorie tracker or start focusing on those heart rate monitors that measure things like MEPs.

We feel this need to hit a certain calorie intake, get a certain number of meps or have our heart rate hit a certain level for our workout to be “good enough.”

But your workouts shouldn’t be about calories burned.

Workouts can help us create that calorie deficit, especially to start, but over time our body adapts.

And there also is no magic fat burning zone where we need to keep our heart rate only at this level to magically burn a ton more fat.

If our diet isn’t dialed in, we won’t be able to out exercise our nutrition for long.

Trying to out exercise your diet, may be why your metabolism has slowed and you’re now blaming your age for your weight gain.

Stop focusing on burning more calories in your workouts. 

Instead turn your focus to building muscle, whether you challenge yourself with bodyweight moves or weights. 

This will improve your metabolic rate to burn more calories at rest, but more on this after habit number 7. 

Here’s a LINK with training tips to design workouts to help you lose fat faster!

Mistake #5: Forcing a meal frequency.

Eat 6 small meals a day! No!

Do Intermittent Fasting, it’s the secret! 

No!

There are so many different meal timings and frequencies out there that people tout as the best. 

But one size doesn’t fit all.

How you schedule your meals may depend on your schedule, when you train, and even whether you prefer big meals or more snacking throughout the day. 

Many different schedules can work!

While you can for sure adjust meal timing strategically based on your progress toward your goals, and tweaks may pay off the longer you’ve had everything dialed in

don’t stress meal timing or freak out if you didn’t have your post workout protein shake within 30 minutes of training. 

Your muscles won’t just melt off.

The key is dialing in our daily portions and routines.

And then we can experiment with meal timings to see what makes us feel most energized while helping us make dietary changes sustainable.

You may find you enjoy less frequent and bigger meals to feel fuller after eating and have to prep fewer dishes. 

Or you may enjoy more frequent snacks as you are a grazer and on the go it is easier than stopping for a meal. 

The key is designing for YOUR lifestyle!

Mistake #6: Focus on being “good all week.” 

Consistency is key.

And while it can feel like you’re being consistent by being “good” all week, that weekend eating or drinking can add up more than we realize. 

While it may seem like you’re being consistent for 5 or 6 days and only off on 1 or 2, we can really throw off our weekly averages just because of those couple of days.

Especially eating out, those foods can be more calorically dense, not to mention fancy lattes and cocktails can really add up! 

We can often end up even drinking more calories than we realize! 

If you’re just starting to make changes, be conscious of how much more you’re eating on weekends as those calories could be throwing you out of the small deficit you’ve created during the week.

Even tracking what you’re currently doing when eating out or over the weekly can really show you how even just one meal can impact your weekly averages.

While focusing on consistent during each day is key, we need that consistency over weeks and even months to add up! 

If you do find that being “good all week,” leads to overeating on the weekend, consider whether you’re trying to restrict too much during the week and creating unsustainable habits.

Also take a look at what leads to the change in habits over the weekends to start making some small adjustments or plan ahead.

Maybe you try some new restaurants with healthier options for a Friday night date night or adjust your earlier meals that day to account for a dinner out and strike a balance! 

Mistake #7: We do all the habits we “should” be doing. 

Honestly, often we try to do MORE. We go 0-60 and search out all of the things we “should” be doing.

Then we implement them all at once because we want results yesterday.

But we never consider if they are realistic for us or if they truly match our lifestyle, needs and goals.

In this effort to get results as fast as possible we do all of these new things, we overwhelm ourselves with change, and then we wonder why we don’t have the willpower or self control to keep going when things come up in our life.

We need to realize that each of us will have a different lifestyle balance. And trying to force someone else’s version of healthy will sabotage us.

So focus on small changes meeting yourself where you are at. 

Before even making changes, consider tracking what you’re currently doing, from your diet to your sleep to your workouts, to make small changes that will add up!

Now what’s the secret to increasing your metabolic rate to burn more calories even at rest?

Focus less on losing weight and more on building muscle.

Muscle is the secret to losing fat faster. And no, I’m not telling you that you have to bulk up. 

But by emphasizing gaining and retaining lean muscle in your workouts, you will actually slim down faster and get the lean, toned look you want.

Because muscles is key to a healthy metabolism and gaining muscle can even increase your metabolic rate if you’ve dieted in the past causing metabolic adaptations.

Muscle means you burn more calories.

And you can build muscle at ANY age.

So don’t slash your calories super low or turn all your workouts into cardio sessions. 

Focus on building muscle and you’ll see that fat loss start to happen!

For more tips to help you boost your metabolism if you’re struggling to lose weight, check out my Can’t Lose Fat? 4 Tips To Boost Your METABOLISM video next.

–> WATCH NOW

 

 

Eat According To Your Goals – 10 Healthy Eating Guidelines

Eat According To Your Goals – 10 Healthy Eating Guidelines

by | Dec 27, 2013 | Blog

Whatever your health and fitness goals are, diet is a key component that can be used to help us get better results from our workout routine.

You need to eat according to your goals!

Healthy eating isn’t only important when you are trying to lose weight – it is also important if you want to lift more, feel more energized, run faster, live longer and FEEL BETTER.

And while each goal may require you to eat in slightly different way, there are some guidelines you need to follow no matter your fitness goal.

Below are the 10 Healthy Eating Guidelines you need to follow if you want all your hard work in the gym to pay off.

1. Don’t get caught up in what worked for someone else. Track and change your diet when necessary. The first thing you must realize when it comes to healthy eating, is that no one diet is going to work for everyone. That diet that your friend has been raving about for months may not work for you. You may want to try your friend’s diet but don’t blindly follow it if you aren’t getting results. Take your time and experiment. Track your diet and then make changes based on what works and what doesn’t work. Track and experiment until you find something that works for YOU.

2. Eat whole, natural foods. No matter whether or not you believe in eating meat, dairy or grains, your diet needs to revolve around whole, natural foods. The more local and seasonally you eat, the better. Cut out the processed crap FIRST over worrying about whether or not a specific vegetable is better or worse for you. Too often we get overwhelmed by micro-details about which fruit is best, when we first need to just focus on those whole, natural foods.

3. Don’t fall for labels. Just because something says “All-Natural,” “Low Fat,” or “Gluten-Free,” doesn’t mean it is healthy. Do not fall for labels that are just meant to sell you a product. If something needs a label to tell you it’s healthy, it probably isn’t! Stick with whole, natural foods as much as you can and read the ingredient list to determine for yourself if something is healthy.

heatlhy food labels

4. Keep it simple! All too often we overcomplicate our diets. We get stuck on tons of small details when we don’t even have the main pillars of our diet set. Start with the basics. Then worry about the details. When we get bogged down in the details, we get overwhelmed and generally give up on our diet. And on top of that, don’t get too worried about variety. Keep things simple. Pick out a few healthy food you enjoy and build your diet around them. Pick out recipes around these foods. Try to pick recipes that require many of the same ingredients so your grocery list is short and simple. You may even want to stick with the same recipes for a week before switching it up so that you aren’t constantly having to figure out what to make. You can also then get in a rhythm for prepping meals, which will make sticking to your healthy diet even easier.

5. Preparation is key. When we aren’t prepared, we give ourselves an excuse to deviate from what we know we SHOULD be doing. Meal prep and planning are extremely important especially when starting a new healthy diet. The easiest way to be prepared is to cook meals that make more than one serving so that you have leftovers for later that week. Crockpots and crockpot recipes are great when it comes to healthy meal prep because you can not only make large quantities of food, but you can also let it cook all day while you go about your normal business. Preparation is also key for when you travel and even plan to eat out. Decide ahead of time how you are going to eat. Are you going to “cheat?” Or are you going to stick to your diet? If you make up your mind ahead of time, you will have an easier time not deviating from your plan. A great way to prep for trips or meals out with friends is to look at the menus or at least know what your basic healthy options are when you dine out. The more you can prepare yourself for different situations, the better off you will be. Being happy with your decision is also key even if you aren’t completely prepared. If you do end up cheating, don’t regret it. Enjoy and get right back on track the next meal or next day!

6. Don’t expect perfection – the 80/20 rule. Do not stress over small deviations. Do not become obsessed with eating “clean.” There has to be a balance with life and indulging in the foods we enjoy and even sometimes eating something “unplanned.” It’s all about consistency! Expecting perfection out of ourselves is what usually leads us into a binge cycle. Like guideline #1 says, “don’t get caught up in what worked for someone else.” For some, “cheat days” or “cheat meals” work well. While for other little treats every single day work. Know yourself and experiment until you find out what works for you.

binge cycle

7. Listen to your body and feed your activity. A good rule of thumb is to eat when you are hungry. If you aren’t hungry for breakfast, don’t force yourself to eat it. However, that doesn’t mean skipping breakfast and starving yourself until you end up binge eating out of sheer hunger. The goal is to listen to your body and eat when you are hungry. For example, if you workout more one day, you may find you are hungry and need to eat more. While on days when you don’t work out, you won’t need as many calories so shouldn’t necessarily eat as much. Don’t feel the need to eat the same amount at the same time every single day. Eat when you are hungry. Eat based on your activity level that day. Give yourself a RANGE so you can find a balance.

8. Don’t fear carbs. Carbs are not evil. While some people may function better on a lower carb diet, other people may find they function better with more carbs. Find what works best for you. Also, you may find you need more carbs when you workout super intensely and fewer carbs when you don’t work out. Don’t be afraid to cycle your carbs over the weeks even as your training, for say a race, may change. You may even find that you feel best when going low carb all week and simply doing a single day refeed. Experiment and test out different cycles to find out what works best.

9. Stay hydrated. Often we feel hungry when we are actually thirsty. Often we eat out of boredom. Sometimes water is all we need. Plus being properly hydrated means a well functioning metabolism. So not only can drinking water prevent us from eating unnecessary calories it can also help us properly burn the calories we do eat!

10. PUT PROTEIN FIRST. We are made up of protein. Whether we want to recover faster, build muscle, lean down, lose weight, stay youthful or simply perform better, generally increasing our protein helps! Focus on getting protein with every meal. We often think protein is only for bodybuilders but the craziest part is that as we get older, increasing our protein intake actually becomes more important since it becomes harder to retain lean muscle mass! So no matter your dietary preference, increase your protein and make that your focus!

NOTE:

There are two underlying principles of these guidelines that I would like to note. First, when you decide to eat a healthy diet, you need to UNDERSTAND why you choose to eat the way you do. Be you Paleo, Primal, Vegetarian or Vegan, understand why your diet is healthy. Don’t just follow a diet blindly because your friend says it is healthy.

Also, EXPERIMENTATION is key to finding something that works for YOU. How we incorporate all of the guidelines above will vary from person to person. Experiment, and as you do, track what you do so that you can make changes as you go. If you don’t track, you won’t know what to change and what to continue doing.

If you need help sifting through all of the fads to create a plan right for you, check out my Macro Academy!